This invention relates to chimney covers which are commonly used to cover the flue exhaust opening or openings in a chimney so as to prevent rain, snow, animals, birds, bats, debris, etc. from entering the flue while still permitting the flue gases to be exhausted. As is well known, a chimney commonly has one or more flue liners which extend above the top of the chimney, and the typical flue liner is generally rectangular in shape but may be any desired shape such as square, round or oval. The chimney cover has a means for mounting it on the chimney and typically has a mounting frame that is attached to the chimney crown or to the flue liner. The mounting frame supports a spark arrestor cage that is covered by a lid. The spark arrestor cage allows the flue gases to be exhausted while preventing the entry of animals, birds, etc. while the lid substantially minimizes the entry of rain or snow. Occasionally, when the flue is already protected from moisture but not from birds, animals, etc., the spark arrestor material used to form the sides of the cage also is used as the lid.
The presently known chimney covers serve their basic purposes quite well, but they do interfere with the work of chimney sweeps in cleaning the chimney. In order to properly clean the chimney, either the lid or the entire cover must be removed to provide complete access to the chimney. The chimney covers are therefore typically made so that the lid and/or the entire mounting frame, spark arrestor cage and lid can be removed during cleaning or repair of the chimney. Since most chimneys extend through pitched roofs, it is difficult for the chimney sweep to find a place to store the chimney cover while the chimney is being cleaned or repaired. With roofs that are steeply pitched, the cover and the fasteners for fastening the cover or lid can easily fall off the roof and become damaged or lost. The alternative is for the chimney sweep to remove the cover, climb down from the roof to temporarily store the cover and then return back to the roof to perform the cleaning operation. This obviously is inconvenient, requires extra time and effort and is costly to the sweep.
There are known a variety of ways of mounting the cover to the flue liner, the chimney or the chimney crown so as to make removal and replacement of the entire cover easier. It is also known to hinge the lid itself to the spark arrestor cage, but leaving the spark arrestor cage in place interferes with the work of the chimney sweep. Moreover, hinging the lid to the cage is somewhat difficult, since a positive locking device must be provided that is capable of securing the lid in a locked position that can resist the wind and other adverse weather conditions over a long period of time. Also, some chimney covers do not use a lid but only an animal control/spark arrestor screen. There is therefore a need for an improved design of chimney covers that satisfies the foregoing needs in a simple, easy way by providing unrestricted access to the chimney for cleaning or repair.